Marin Voice: A career of keeping 'doing good' always in focus

In 1978, Marinite Bruce Burtch was asked by the president of a large corporation what he wanted to do with his life. Almost without thinking, he said: "I want to do well by doing good." The executive laughed, leaned back in his chair and replied: "I've never seen anybody do that before."

That mantra, "do well by doing good," is the foundational philosophy underlying what Burtch has not only preached but practiced for the past 38 years.

You can't spend five minutes with Burtch without being infused with the belief that at his core, this is what motivates him.

Stolen away at age 25 by the Marriott Corp. from his position with Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky, Ohio, Burtch was chosen to design the opening promotion of Marriott's largest project in history: Great America in Santa Clara. Burtch came up with the brilliant concept of co-venturing with the March of Dimes in what he calls a cross-sector partnership, one which provides more benefit to all the partners than each could have benefited alone.

Marriott hoped for 2 million people through the turnstiles in the first year and March of Dimes wanted to raise more donations. They partnered on a campaign in 67 cities across 17 states. Voila! In 1976, the March of Dimes raised $2.5 million, 40 percent more than had ever been raised in its western region, and Great America attracted a record-breaking 2.2 million people.

Burtch has been called the "father of cause marketing" for this innovative campaign. A win-win for everyone.

With 1,543 nonprofits in Marin, the highest per capita in California, the need for consolidation and cross-sector partnerships is evident, as the majority of these organizations have annual budgets of less than $100,000.

Anyone driving up San Rafael's Third Street can see the benefit of such collaboration. Whistlestop's partnership with Homeward Bound put together two organizations that serve great meals out of their Jackson Caf?.

The most impactful cause marketing success designed by Burtch has been Prepare Bay Area. In a collaboration between Pacific Gas and Electric Co. and the Red Cross, and a $1 million grant from the former, over 1 million people were provided emergency earthquake preparedness training. That represents a 26 percent preparedness number, an estimated over four-fold increase from the percentage of people trained to know what to do in an earthquake prior to the campaign.

In his new book, "Win-Win for the Greater Good," Burtch emphasizes that for a campaign to achieve maximum success it has to align the missions and values of the partnering organizations.

Another major component is everyone laying their cards on the table so there is no misconception about the desired results. Too many times, without honest, candid discussions, the fit isn't right. For-profits may accuse the nonprofit of only wanting their money, while the nonprofit may counter with: "you only want to use my organization's good reputation."

Most importantly, the partnership must be focused on creating a greater good.

When both sides enter into a partnership for the right reasons, employee morale increases, a company's image is elevated for the good works it is doing in the community, the nonprofit is able to fund its dreams for those it serves and everyone profits monetarily — and dare I say, morally as well.

Marin has a wonderful opportunity to benefit from the accumulated knowledge of Bruce Burtch, whom I consider a pioneer. He has knowledge and wisdom that has been hard earned and proven out, and he knows we can do so much more together through partnerships

Noah Griffin of Tiburon is a public affairs consultant and a former community member of the IJ's editorial board. The IJ's regular columnist in this spot, Dick Spotswood, is taking a well-deserved break.